Carpenter's late trey boosts South Medford at Abby's

It was truly a tale of two halves for the South Medford boys basketball team on the opening day of the Abby's Holiday Classic at South Medford High Thursday.

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Posted Dec. 28, 2012 at 12:10 AM
Updated Dec 28, 2012 at 12:22 AM

Posted Dec. 28, 2012 at 12:10 AM
Updated Dec 28, 2012 at 12:22 AM

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It was truly a tale of two halves for the South Medford boys basketball team on the opening day of the Abby's Holiday Classic at South Medford High Thursday.

The Panthers nearly squandered a 20-point halftime lead, but Bryson Carpenter drilled a 3-pointer from the corner with 29 seconds remaining to put South Medford up for good in a 58-56 victory over North Salem.

"North Salem, they just kept competing," said Panthers coach Dennis Murphy. "They came out aggressive and attacked and we rolled back on our heels. (We've) got to grow from this and learn from it."

South Medford, which squares off against Redmond tonight at 7:45, was excellent in all facets of the game in the opening half and grabbed a 39-19 lead at the intermission.

But North Salem steadily chipped away at the deficit in the third quarter before opening up its rally with an 8-0 run to start the fourth.

What was shaping up to be a blowout in favor of the Panthers turned into a seesaw battle throughout the fourth quarter until Carpenter hit the trey that gave the Panthers a 57-56 edge.

After Carpenter's big basket, North Salem worked the ball into the paint for one final shot but missed. The Panthers' Mark Winans hauled in the rebound and was fouled with two seconds remaining.

Winans missed the one-and-one free throw and the Vikings snagged the ball off the rim and took a timeout. However, they threw the inbounds pass out of bounds.

When South Medford inbounded, Jesse Mondry was fouled and made a free throw before intentionally missing the second to run out the clock.